Prior to the present invention, remote telephone consoles were implemented as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,696 "CENTREX ATTENDANT CONSOLE INTERFACE". But this implementation was limited because:
1) It required a total of six wires between the central office (CO) and the console; PA1 2) The analog signal is not digitized until reaching the CO, thereby allowing noise to be induced; PA1 3) The line card (CONI) does not provide any call processing functions; PA1 4) The data channel is limited to a low BAUD rate, and; PA1 5) All customer information is stored in the central office's central computer or the remote console.
Most organizations desire each secretary to have a telephone console for answering unattended telephones, determining who is using the telephone, intercepting calls, etc. These features are generally present if the organization purchases a Private Branch Exchange (PBX); however, as stated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,696, the telephone industry developed CENTREX to provide many of the same features without the initial capital or maintenance requirements. But, because of the limitation stated above, the number of consoles per CO was limited.
Because of the limited number of consoles, the telecommunications industry developed its CENTREX features to function on the standard telephone instrument. This was accomplished by using "access" codes to indicate which feature was to be used. Each feature generally required a distinct access code.
To simplify the features, and reduce the number of access codes that must be memorized, a programmable telephone was developed. Here, the telephone instrument had feature buttons that sent the appropriate access code. But to answer an unattended telephone the secretary must either forward the unattended telephone to their telephone or be able to hear the unattended telephone ring and press the correct access code (or feature button). To solve this problem, each line to be monitored was split and sent to both the telephone and the console. When the telephone rings (or is busy) the console indicates which line is ringing. But, the number of wires connected to the console can quickly become prohibitive.
It therefore becomes the object of the present invention to provide a console telephone system that allows the user to program its functionality, displays the current status, and can be provided in substantial numbers.